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With the first offence of the America's Cup by the Royal Perth Yacht Club underway, the
most talked about place in the West is Fremantle, and tonight's World About Us, a TVW7 production,
is about its history. In the 1820s, the first settlers arrived with a rather romantic vision
of what Fremantle would look like, but the reality was less attractive and for some very
disillusioning. The faith of the first governor, Captain Stirling, in the settlement did not
waver, and he pleaded with the British government to improve the conditions for those early
West Australians. They didn't. Convict labour was introduced into WA at the request of an
influential few, large pastoralists, big merchants and publicans. It only lasted from 1850 to
about 1865, but it did increase the size of the settlement from 5,000 to 30,000, and it
did halve the wages of those already struggling settlers. The physical presence of the prisons
was and is a focal point in the town of Fremantle. The port city developed around the wharf.
The harbour, which operates so well today, is the result of the planning of C.Y. O'Connor,
an exceptionally clever and far-sighted man who was misunderstood by the masses, but supported
by the great Lord Forrest. We're fortunate so many have fought to retain the old buildings
of Fremantle, because it is today a fine example of a port city in the Victorian style. It's
a thriving place now, alive with the activity that surrounds the cup, but even if the cup
doesn't stay, the charm that is Fremantle will.
Stand by the settlementals! Take away, south-south-west.
The challenge of the Americas Cup. Eleven men, the very latest in technology and that
unbending determination to succeed. That same courage and commitment characterised the journeys
of the early settlers more than 150 years ago. Just like the 12-metre yachtsmen of the
1980s, the seafarers of the 1820s put their faith in the totally unknown. That faith was
based in a promise, the promise of a new life in a new land.
The Dutch had made the trip more than a century before, naming the river Swan after the black
birds that fascinated them. Led by Captain William Vlaming, the Dutch mounted various
expeditions during their stay to determine the worth of this mysterious great southern
land. But their reports were not as enthusiastic as those tended by Captain James Sterling
in the late 1820s.
HMS Success was the vessel which carried Captain Sterling out to this area in 1827 to do the
initial surveys of the area. He produced glowing reports about the river, about the land surrounding
it and about the harbour of Covent Sound.
The literature that the settlers read reflected Sterling's romantic vision about what Swan
River would look like rather than what he actually saw.
Even after such a long and dangerous journey at sea, the drama was not over for Captain
Sterling and the new arrivals, for the tasks they now faced were simply daunting.
Immediately the protest came and the Colonial Secretary's office files, the early files
from late 1829 and early 1830, are full of letters from the settlers complaining about
being led up the garden path essentially. So there was immense disillusionment and the
letters started to go back to England and were printed in regional and local newspapers.
It seems a complete bellies go together, not a farce, for they are generally laughable,
but all here is really and truly cryable.
You'll think I'm giving you a woeful description, but you, in England, can have no idea of what
is going on here. Still, we live in hopes that something may turn out better.
As time went by, the beach at Arthurhead became dotted with tents and makeshift shelters.
The adjacent dunes stripped of their vegetation for firewood soon turned Fremantle into a
dusty, even more inhospitable shantytown. And with the blowing sands came drunkenness
and general dissatisfaction. But from shaky beginnings, the settlement at last seemed
to take some shape. But more help would be required if it was to reach its full potential.
And so it was that in 1834, the British Under Secretary was visited by a very desperate
Captain James Stirling. Word of the troubles at Fremantle had travelled quickly.
It is true that there are problems with the colony. Many of those who are seeking a new
life have become dissatisfied. They have given up. More and more are leaving. We must act
quickly to save Swan River. Stirling was undeterred. His faith in the potential of Fremantle never
wavered. And so, gentlemen, I put it to you that it
is not too late for the colony. I plead with you not to ignore the undoubted wealth that
is there, and I request your assistance. With foresight and sense, I now believe more firmly
than ever before that the colony will become a place of great importance.
The Under Secretary listened intently to Stirling, but his answer was typically non-committal.
Finally, Captain Stirling, we want to thank you for your proposal. The undeniable faith
and hope you have reflected is, to say the least, impressive. I want you to know that
my minister will fully consider what you have presented today, and that we will contact
you in the future with an answer. Stirling's plea was essentially in vain.
Sure, they provided him with a strengthened military presence, but none of the things
the colonists urgently required was forthcoming. Clashes between the Aborigines and the white
settlers had become commonplace. The Aborigines found the colonists would not share their
valuable commodities the way they had been forced to share their fish and kangaroos.
And it sadly recorded that all Stirling did with his contingent of men was to ride south
to the mouth of the Murray River in an attempt to wipe out the people they called treacherous
natives. Many Aborigines were imprisoned. Others fetched
firewood for the settlers. Their world had been completely overturned. Ten years after
the settlement of Fremantle, the Aboriginal population was riddled with alcoholism and
other diseases. Today, the impact of their integration with the early settlers remains.
In the same ten years that saw the virtual decimation of these people, the colony advanced
slowly under the burden of this and other problems, not the least of which was the rugged,
unforgiving coastline. The West Australian coastline does have onshore
winds, and it has a little in the way of havens for ships. So if a ship gets into trouble,
it's difficult for it to find a place to avoid disaster. So they would go out in very dangerous
conditions, and subsequently vast numbers of people were drowned.
Effectively, they were sailing blind because there were no adequate charts to show where
the reefs and other hazards were. As the frequency of sea traffic increased,
the reef-pocked waters claimed more and more vessels. Many a ship laden with goods and
dedicated crew sank to a mortary grave. Ship's logs and captain's notes, documents
full of tales of mystery and adventure of brave men and buried treasure, tales recounting
the triumphs and tragedies of sea voyages in the early 1800s. But of the German crew,
the story remains unfinished. It was about sunrise. The gem was heading
in from the south with a favourable wind behind her. The weather was fine, the seas were smooth,
all sails were set, and she was well clear of rock-nest islands and treacherous reefs.
With no signs of danger, those on board the gem and the lonely man of the lighthouse had
nothing to fear. Continuing on his morning routine, the keeper
left his observation post to attend to other routine duties and after a short time began
the long climb upwards to the top of the lighthouse. But in his brief absence, something mysterious
had occurred. Returning to his post, he looked out across the ocean, fully expecting to once
again pick up the gem in his sights. He quickly became a worried man. The gem had simply disappeared.
Here, you cold-raced sludge! Look what all the others are eating!
When the Harvest Fresh Markets buyer goes shopping, he only buys the finest quality
freshest produce at the best possible prices. At Harvest Fresh Markets, the very best always
costs less and they're open seven days a week. Only a real estate is carefully planned around
your children's education, local shops, recreation and easy access to the city. Parklake Estate
Balladura is the real estate. Ring Charter Realty on 364 5911.
There's only one place on earth where you can enjoy the wonder of Fremantle's Fishing
Boat Harbour while intimately dining and dancing the night away, perched high above the water's
edge. Where else but Lombardo's?
We now present the results of tonight's Lotto Draw.
chapter of Fremantle's colourful maritime history was opened when a barely equipped but nonetheless
effective whaling station was established below the Roundhouse. At the time, the biggest
and most distinctive building in the settlement. The whalers, like so many farmers of the ocean
that followed them, discovered and cultivated a living beneath the waves of the vast Indian
Ocean. Their tools and methods were at first primitive, but in time a jetty was built and
by the 1840s whaling was a booming industry. In a project undertaken by the local council,
tons of earth were excavated in a bid to discover more about the layout and construction of
the whaling station buildings on Arthur Hill. Archaeologists came from all over the world
to scrape and fossock in deep pits walled in by layer upon layer of history.
The object of the excavation is to define the limits of the historical material that
we've got buried under the ground here. Fremantle City Council are redeveloping the area and
they want to make sure they don't disturb anything that's of cultural value.
Their findings were predictable. An 1851 penny, bottles, some buttons, many pieces of shattered
china and the tragic realisation that much of what they were looking for would never
be found.
Fortunately when we got down to bedrock here we found it was under about one and a half
metres of water table. This is the base of the jetty, the beginning of the jetty. The
rest of it's the part that we were really interested on is possibly a hundred metres
further out to sea and gone for good now.
By the 1840s other industries had sprung up in the port. The docks had come alive with
activity as loads of wool and sandalwood were shipped out. Industry flourished and soon
the port side business was booming. More and more ships pulled in and an increasing volume
of produce was shipped out.
Today Fremantle harbour operates smoothly and efficiently. This outstanding engineering
achievement is a fitting tribute to the foresight of one man.
That man was C.Y. O'Connor and he worked tirelessly in a bid to achieve his vision for Fremantle
and the new colony. He worked under intense pressure and sometimes outright ridicule.
He was considered mad, with outlandish plans that surely could never be achieved.
I think Western Australians have always had difficulty recognising talent in their own
midst and we tend to be a society which thinks first that talent lies outside Western Australia
and it always comes as a surprise to West Australians to learn that perhaps some pace
making activities are taking place within Perth. So I think O'Connor generated ideas
from within Western Australia and I think these were found to be far-fetched. One could
say that he had a very difficult time of it. Now against that I think one has to say that
O'Connor was very strongly supported by the most powerful man in Western Australia, Sir
John Forrest. There's no indication that Forrest wavered at all. Forrest thought big. He was
a big man and he thought big and he wanted to be remembered for producing great things
for Western Australians. So I think O'Connor did enjoy a fair amount of very strong support.
Now whether that was sufficiently strong to assist him psychologically to survive the
other criticisms, who can say? The groundswell of opinion against O'Connor had depressed
his staunch spirit to breaking point. His final diary entry reflects a feeling of anger
and despair. The call guardie scheme is alright and I could finish it if I got a chance in
protection from misrepresentation but there's no hope for that now and it's better that
it should be given to some entirely new man to do. I feel that my brain is suffering and
I'm in great fear of what effect all this worry may have upon me. I have lost control
of my thoughts. O'Connor's death was a great tragedy but his legacy was a remarkable one.
His far-fetched schemes became realities, succeeding under the most difficult of conditions
and out of that success came a tough new breed of worker, the lumpa. The men who worked the
wharves led tough lives, there's no question about that. They were good, honest, hardworking
and very likeable people, very genuine. Couldn't find them any better on the Fremantle wharf
to those days. You had to be tough to survive. There is a myth about Australia that the essential
Australian, the stereotype Australian is an outback country person, tall, lean, bronzed,
male, very independent minded, fairly aggro, can do anything with a piece of wire, great
improviser, has all those qualities. But in fact to survive in an Australian town in the
19th and into the 20th century you had to be pretty tough and the city bred its own
toughness. You had to be fit and able to do the work or you didn't get the job, that's
all there was to it. The big fit and able men would get preference over the work because
it's hard work in those days. The men of the wharves earned the respect of the community
and Fremantle became a bastion of unionism. To this day it remains a Labour Party stronghold.
Men would stick together and strike together and if anyone stood in their way they would
pay. April 1919 the word went out. The police were on their way to the harbour with scab
labour. I remember that was on a Sunday morning that
the riot started and a man come running with a kerosene tin beating it through every street
calling the lumper that was still in bed to get up and come to the wharf.
My father told me he was in it, telling me that they had to try and chase these national
volunteers off the wharf. The police were shattering them and trying to get them aboard
the ships to work and the wharves were trying to stop them.
Fremantle was just a fire with the lumpers and all that. On the Monday night we were
coming out from work, we used to come around the town way. When we came down we saw the
police on horseback coming up high street and chasing the lumpers and the church in
and out of the fence around us. There were old fashioned poles, narrow with points on
the top and every one of them was pulled off beating the police with them. We got frightened
and we ran back and came out the back way. We wouldn't go into town without frightened.
There were sticks and stones and pickets and batons and the police were interfering with
them and when they got near the scabs they intervened with the baton. The police put
the baton on them and these wharfs picked up blue metal and they damaged a lot of policemen
but they never come on the wharf. The riots witnessed many injuries including
the death of one young worker, Tommy Edwards, who was given a martyr's funeral, the biggest
ever seen in Fremantle. The rift between the constabulary and the wharfies healed with
the years but the memory of the day known as Bloody Sunday lives on.
Here are some of the names and numbers behind a Hearns five million dollar clearance sale.
They're big names with small numbers. 25% of Playtex. Here's another. 40% of Men's
Country Road. And another. 60% of Sango Dinnersets. And another. 35% of Selected Sheridan Towns.
And another. Stitches dresses from $49. A Hearns five million dollar clearance sale is
on now. See the Sunday Times for new stock releases and be quick.
Would you like one of these for only $6 a month? Yes, only $6 a month gets you this
Supermobile Garden Bin and listen to this. It's emptied two times each month. Compare
this mess to a Supermobile Garden Bin. Sealed lid, neat and tidy, completely mobile and
that price again only $6 a month. If you've got one of these, get one of these. Supermobile
Garden Bins, only $6 and picked up twice a month. Phone this number now. Join the Garden
Bin Revolution. Hey, look out everybody. Here comes rock and
roll to the rescue with a whole bunch of mighty fine albums from EMI. The Stalking Heads,
Brace Jones or the brand newie from Duran Duran called Notorious. Or how about Crowded
House? Their brilliant first up release called Crowded House and there's great new albums
from Rodney Root, Glass Tiger, George Thorogood and Kate Bush. Yes sir, it's rock and roll
to the rescue. The legend of Spain lives. Just one hour from
Perth, all the adventure, excitement and fun of Spain is yours. See Zorro protect Spain.
See the Andalusian Stallions dance in splendour while the kids join Zorro on the waterslides
to Boggans chairlifts and games. Escape with the family to El Caballo Blanco, Spain.
By the middle of the 19th century, the conditions in the colony had again deteriorated. Many
dreams of success had been washed up. Many plans had failed. What the colony needed most
was a large cheap labour force. Back in England, the British government desperately needed
a place to accommodate the growing criminal population and so in June 1850, the first
cargo of convicts arrived in Fremantle waters. The able young entrepreneurs of Western Australia
got a tremendous boost by the presence of convicts and the injection of British money.
So the population moved from 5,000 in 1850 to 30,000 or so 20 years later. A massive
boost to the colony. It saved it in fact. But many of the people were not convinced
that convicts were the answer. At the time the convicts were sent, there was opposition.
Most of the women of Fremantle and Perth were against having male convicts in Western Australia.
They feared for their lives and their reputations. It was a very difficult thing for the women
and children of the colony. Many of the male labourers didn't want convicts to come either
because they knew that their wages would drop by 50% the moment the first boatload of convicts
arrived and that's precisely what happened. There was a shortage of labour in the 1840s
and that the Western Australians to overcome a shortage of labour asked the British government
to send convicts to provide that labour. That implicates us all in the decision to bring
convicts to Western Australia. But serious historical research has shown in the last
few years that in fact only a handful of West Australians asked for convicts and that handful
were the large pastoralists and employers of the York area, the big merchants who had
a vested interest in trade increasing from the presence of convicts and from, as you
would expect, the big publicans too. More convicts, more booze drunk and profits up
and so forth. So the petitions to bring in convicts in fact only have a few names on
them but it was a very powerful lobby, a very powerful lobby in London. Fremantle physically
changed during the convict period and it meant that wherever you were in Fremantle you looked
up at these huge structures of imperial authority. So if you were an ex-convict you knew who
ran Western Australia and you lived under the shadow of the great jail. But this didn't
intimidate all the convicts and Fremantle's tradition of working class protest begins
I think from this period. By the 1860s the British had established many other penitentiaries.
The stream of convicts to Fremantle quickly dwindled. By 1865 the only offender sent here
were the unfortunate Irish political prisoners, the Fenians. Some years later in an escape
that had all the sophistication of a modern day crime, six men escaped to freedom and
a new life in the Americas.
The escape started in the United States. Why these fellows were here, they came on the
last convict ship, the Hughamont in 1868 and they were all political prisoners. The convicts
were out on working parties all the time. The thing was how the heck do you get them
out? So they elected to send two gentlemen, Breslin and Desmond, Irishmen from the United
States who arrived in Fremantle. So these guys had plenty of opportunity to find out
who the convicts that were going to rescue were and then make some contact with them
and they did this and let them know that help was coming. In the meantime back in the United
States they found a brilliant sea captain named Captain Anthony and they brought him
a boat which was the Catalpa and they asked him if he would embark upon this journey of
rescue and he said he would. And one day looking up the shipping notes at the approximate time
appointed they saw where the Catalpa had arrived in Fremantle. Captain Anthony was to come
up here. Breslin had surveyed the scene best off the coast of Lockingham. He was used to
hiring the best coaches and horses in town. He would arrange for the prisoners to be out
on work release. He would get them into the coaches and horses, he had clothing prepared
and they would make their escape to Rockingham which wouldn't be that difficult, difficult
but not that difficult. The thing was that Captain Anthony had to have his boat crew
ashore there waiting for them then row them out and they had to escape past Rockingham.
This was all arranged. Captain Anthony paid his part. Breslin hired the best horses in
town. He had enlisted the support of course of other Irish ticket of leave men in town
who were giving their support. He hired the best coaches and horses in town but they made
a muck up of it at the stables and he got the worst ones so they hired them out for
a regatta. Overnight his plans he was left without the fastest horses to the worst ones,
nobody wanted. But he still managed to have his, by good organisation and maybe a bit
of bribery I don't know, the six military prisoners were in a work gang, easily contacted,
easily put in the horse and cart up in Hampton Road and galloped off down to Rockingham with
Breslin and Desmond. Let's go.
On reaching Rockingham the boat was waiting for Captain Anthony and he had paid his part.
They boarded the boat and the watcher at Rockingham said what are you going to do with the coach
and horses and they yelled out you can have it. So quickly the police were alerted that
obviously some convicts had got away. The Georgeettes had arrived which was our only
steamer which used to ply between Albany and Fremantle and the police commandeered that
and they took off after the Catalpa. They overtook the Catalpa and they demanded that
it surrender the prisoners it was carrying. The Captain Anthony just sailed on as obviously
he was going to pay no attention to them, they fired a shot across his bow and said
hand over the prisoners or we'll sink you. Captain Anthony then had to call their bluff,
he hoisted the American flag and all he replied was that flag protects me. Our fellows had
a hurried conference on board and thought perhaps it was a bit big of us to take on
the United States at that time and we decided to let them go and we pulled away and they
sailed on.
The Australian Women's Weekly half million dollar gold bullion giveaway continues. There's
another half million dollar gold bullion entry form in our super 258 page holiday issue of
the weekly. You'll love reading about the golden couple Mr and Mrs Grant Kenny. Gay
Waterhouse shows her love and resolve plus exclusive souvenir photographs of the papal
visit and Bob Goldoff's wedding. For kids of all ages there's 10 pages of things to
do when there's nothing to do and a review of children's pantomimes throughout Australia.
For us mums there's 16 page zip out of delicious holiday hits. There's gardening hints by Don
Burke, Alan Searle and remarkably Richard Sterling as well as your stars for 87 plus
50 quick face lifts for your home. Wonderful royal doggie snaps and for a great holiday
read we have four fabulous short stories and I'll show you how to dress for the bush and
don't forget this is your second chance to win the weekly's half million dollar gold
bullion sweepstakes. The more times you enter the more chances you have to win. The super
summer holiday issue of the weekly out now. If you added up how many cloth nappies you
soaked, washed and hung out to dry in a year you'd be surprised how many cloth nappies
that came to. But snuggler's nappies keep baby drier than cloth and help keep you away
from the laundry. So next change, change to economical snugglers and have more time for
the things you'd like to do. From Walt Disney Pictures who brought you Bambi, Pinocchio
and the Jungle Book comes a wonderful new adventure, the great mouse detective with
Basil the only mouse in all London who can save his queen and country from the clutches
of the villainous Professor Rattigan. Don't miss the great mouse detective. More than
a movie, a total experience, Ace Cinemas. There's something about Fremantle that interests
and engenders respect for those who have been here before us. The architecture has become
known and admired worldwide. It is regarded as a fine example of a port city in the Victorian
style and the fact that it is still intact and largely cohesive has astonished visiting
architects. They talk about it being unique, they talk about it being a miraculous survival,
they talk about it being a place which is relatively unknown in architectural circles
overseas. They wonder just as you have as to why it's still here and the like that
it is. The preservation of Fremantle has been due to the concerted efforts from various
groups. But to understand its very special qualities you need to go back to the early
beginnings in the colony and to the jewel in the crown of Fremantle, the Roundhouse.
It took four and a half months to build and stands today as the most distinctive landmark
in Fremantle. That it stands at all is due to the fickle winds of fate rather than the
consciousness for preservation. For in 1922, a tender of ten pounds was asked for its
demolition. But the harbour master objected saying that his house next door would be blown
away by the gale force winds. After the convict period, the progress of the colony languished.
The imperial government held back vital funds, virtually strangling Fremantle's further development.
The trade was dull, the unemployed were standing around in both Fremantle and Perth. It was
still the legacy of the convict period. Companies were going bankrupt, including the Stanley
Brewery later, the Swan Brewery almost went bankrupt, you wouldn't think that possible,
but it almost did. And so it was a very difficult time. And by 1888, complete depression came
over Western Australia, crucial year. But a sudden boost was on the way and for the colony
it could not have come at a more opportune time. Gold, the irresistible temptation to
find it brought thousands of hopefuls to Western Australia and Fremantle shared in the prosperity
of those hectic golden years. While the focus of the gold rush was hundreds of kilometres
away in the gold fields of Kalgoorlie, it wasn't long before its effect was felt down
the line here in Fremantle. There was all over again, confidence and optimism. The place
went through a major building boom and its distinctive architecture is still overpoweringly
evident today. By 1910, Fremantle was a thriving port and known as the gateway to the golden
West. The early convict buildings were now overshadowed by large emporiums, banks, offices
and stately homes. In the rush of the 1890s, a lot of new facades were tacked onto old
buildings. In fact, they're not total buildings, many of them, they are just facades with earlier
generation of building behind. That was done in the 60s and 70s when thoughts of preservation
were very rudimentary, when it was a bold step forward to even consider keeping facades
in order to maintain the streetscape and the townscape. It's a, as you can see, a bit of
a stage set left with new building going on behind it. It's happening in two or three
places around the town. We're a bit concerned now, of course, that it might happen throughout
the town and leave us with a complete stage set rather than the guts of the town.
Hollywood? Well, not exactly. Fremantle's a long way from Beverly Hills, but in 1935,
a would-be mogul created an epic entitled Secret Agent.
The
fight to ensure Fremantle remains relatively untarnished by progress has been somewhat
less humorous. There is a long history of times when Fremantle was about to be bulldozed
and rebuilt, and for various economic circumstances, wars and depressions, it missed out on that
great development boom that's gone through most of our other cities and left us intact.
Many residents feared the arrival of the America's Cup would signal the departure of Fremantle's
character. Oh, yes, they've done a lot since Bondi won
the Cup. And there used to be muses about shit just down a few streets. Well, that's
all gone. See, it's all into Fisherman's Harbor now.
I never thought, and I said to the associates that I knock about with, I said, if Bondi
wins this race, we'll be well in it. And I didn't expect it to be the magnitude it is,
you know. I thought it'd be about half as good as it is now. But it's more than I expected,
far more than I expected. I didn't expect to be knocking old places over and building
new places and rejuvenating old places. Look at Last Fenite Hotel. Have you been down there
to see that? That was a tough and the apes enjoyed until Bondi won that race. And Fremantle
is one way street to every other goddamn thing now since they started. So I never expected
it. Never. There has been tremendous pressure on the place in the last 12 months. It's done
a lot of good in the sense of encouraging people to smarten themselves up and tidy up
their premises. There's been a lot of painting done, a lot of refurbishing of interiors and
so forth. It's a very good effect. It's had that impact. I think the danger could be that
it goes too far, too fast perhaps. Fremantle is a slow moving place. This is why we've
still got so much of it left. What we are seeing is the sort of renewal in Fremantle
that to some extent we saw in the 1890s and 1900s. A tremendous burst of building activity
which frightens some, dismayes others and excites still more. And I think that it is
too early, here I am the cautious historian, to say whether all this flurry of activity
and injection of capital is going to harm Fremantle in the longer term. I have a suspicion
that it won't and the Fremantle will not only survive but prosper magnificently.
The paint is from Spain, is at it again, in a rock and roll minstrel, they're spending
all plain. It's amazing the things that you see, when you set your spirits free.
Kirk's quality mixers from the people who make Coca-Cola.
Large crowds or small, Kentucky Fried Chicken catering caters for all from just $2 a head.
Just call Kentucky Fried Chicken to enjoy the convenience of the Colonel's extensive
catering service anytime, anywhere.
There's only one place in the world where you can enjoy the wonders of Fremantle's
Fishing Boat Harbour while quenching your thirst at any one of three distinctly different
bars high over the water's edge. Where else but Lombardo's?
You've got it all, you've got it all, here at Fishing Boat Harbour, you've got it all,
a paradise morning to night. You've got it all in Lombardo's, you've got it all in Lombardo's.
Wednesday night, Channel 7 premieres a brand new television series, a show where anything
can happen and usually does. International personality Noel Edmonds presents the Late,
Late Breakfast Show. 60 minutes of fun, variety and sheer madness. So spark up your life with
the most surprising mixture of entertainment and personalities with the Late, Late Breakfast
Show, 8.50 Wednesday night on Channel 7.
While Fremantle was thousands of miles from the front line, it didn't take long for the
effects of World War I to get here. Many men, some of whom never returned, passed through
this port on the way to war. And of course Fremantle men had to leave wives and families
behind to take up arms for their country. It was left to the women to shoulder the responsibilities
and they played a vital behind the scenes role in a conflict that worried the entire
world.
They were doing a mighty job, the women. They were doing a mighty job because they took
the place of a lot of men in driving trucks and things like that. The women did a lot
of that during the war years and I think that was the start of the women being what they
are now.
The troops used to leave Fremantle and that's where you could go down and see them off but
that's all there was. All the soldiers passing through but there was no excitement much about
anything else. All because we were young then we didn't fear anything. We never thought
of the war.
Although the possibility of invasion was remote, Fremantle was enveloped in a fear of war that
still exists today. By the end of the first great war that fear was followed by hard times
and eventually the depression.
Why don't you work like the other men do? How the hell can I work when there's no work
to do?
No one was spared from the devastating effect of the depression. The queues for work grew
and men struggled to feed their families.
Often I'd go down there for days at a time and never get a job. Three times a day. And
you could take on any work that was offering and a lot of fathers wouldn't work coal and
I earned most of my money on the waterfront on coal, working coal. But a lot of people
wouldn't have it on because it was dirty. But I would do anything as long as I got paid.
The proudly independent Warfies were now forced to endure humiliation at the hands of the
man in the ball ring. You would all stand in a ring. He would stand in the middle and
everybody facing him. If he didn't like you, he would make it deliberate. He'd pick up
the man on the left hand side of you and then he'd pick up the man on the right hand side
and he'd leave you there standing. They had the power of, well, let's say life and death.
And if you got the job, then good. If you never got a job, well then there was no pay.
While World War I was remote and perhaps at an age when the armed conflicts of the world
was considered a romantic notion, World War II was closer and more threatening. For the
first time since sterling ordered trenches dug around that 1829 settlement, Australians
were considering a home front.
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special bulletin from the newsroom. Japanese
naval, military and air forces launched widespread attacks without warning yesterday morning
on British and American territories in the Pacific and on Thailand. The sudden onslaught
was apparently designed to achieve knockout blows. Bombers raided Singapore, the central
point for British forces in far eastern waters and the city regarded as Australia's northern
fortress. Fears now exist that the Japanese may focus their attention on Australian shores.
Up and down, up and down. As we went forward, we passed the native stretcher bearers bringing
the wounded back. Oh well, at least we wouldn't have to walk back. Like meeting your future
face to face.
The Second World War saw Fremantle become an important strategic naval base for the American
fleets.
They put all their guns ashore and as they put their guns ashore, they mounted them right
along the wharf in between the shed because they thought the Japanese would be coming
down and they were ready for it. The Americans, all Americans, and the wharf was lined up
with guns. You had to get a pass to get on the wharf in those times because, well, sabotage
I suppose they expected, but you had to get a pass to get on the wharf. If you didn't
show your pass, you didn't get on.
The arrival of the American forces boosted the local economy and for the first time,
US troops walked the streets of Fremantle.
Yes, the Americans, see they came here, the soldiers come first and then the sailors come
after. Of course the girls went mad with the sailors.
But that wasn't the last of the Americans and Fremantle remains one of the most popular
shorely destinations for the US Navy.
I think the fear that an overseas or foreign power might do something in this part of the
world goes back a very long time and of course latterly, the perhaps growing confrontation
between the Americans and the Russians and the knowledge that West Australians have that
the submarines of both powers are operating off Fremantle shows that we have a very long
history of being, I think, concerned about what foreign powers might do to us. And it's
just ingrained in Western Australians to be concerned, to on the one hand welcome the
existence of a big friend and on the other to be worried about the implications. I think
that goes back as far as the beginning of Fremantle.
And those early fears of invasion have manifested themselves in anti-nuclear sentiments. Today,
the visiting fleets are greeted with a mixture of open arms and angry protests.
I think that the stakes are much higher these days in terms of the capacity of international
powers to wreak destruction on a place like Fremantle. But we have to live with Fremantle,
in Fremantle, around Fremantle, just as generations of Western Australians had to do with that
possible knowledge that one day it could be the scene of a major catastrophe in international
affairs.
What all either side needs is one Poseidon submarine. They've got 50,000 warheads which
they do not need. They have to start to go. The arguments that you give me are no longer
valid. We've been hearing those arguments for the last 25 years and we are now on the
precipice of extinction.
It's a debate that will probably never be fully resolved. The peace movement will continue
to highlight Fremantle's role as a part-time shelter and holiday home for the visiting
American fleets. They will point it out with the same vehemence and faith that the American
and Australian governments use when they're refuting that Fremantle is a military target.
No one, but no one will ever know whether they're right or wrong, except if that day,
that fatal day becomes a reality.
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Let's Calippo! Ooh, baby, come with me and do the calippo. It's such a simple move, the
calippo dance. First you shimmy down. Mootie and juicy natural calippo. So refreshing.
Do the calippo dance. Then you shimmy up. Orange and lemon. Come on and do sweet calippo
now. Let's calippo! Now, all natural passion fruit calippo. These people have come to our
country knowing that hard work and a democratic way of life will pay dividends in terms of
happiness and security. For many immigrants, Fremantle was their first taste of Australia,
their first port of call, and many elected to stay and start their new lives here. Well,
I think it's very important to understand that Fremantle has always been an immigrant
society, that waves of migrants have given Fremantle its character, and it is a recognisable
character. It is distinct from Perth, there's no question about that. It is probably in
Australia now quite unique in its social and ethnic mix, and the fact that it's a port,
I think, has helped enormously. Since the 1920s, migrants from central and southern
Europe and particularly Italy have made their way to the port city. They brought with them
a long tradition of seafaring, and through their skills and experience, Fremantle's fishing
industry was born. Well, when I came here, there couldn't be more than about, say, 15,
20 boats altogether. If you could take in what the industry, the fishing industry, has
brought to Fremantle, it's enormous. More than any bloody wall in the weight I got here.
Fishing for local and export markets has become a major part of Fremantle, and still thrives
as one of her most important industries today. The impact of various migrant groups on the
port will never be erased. There is an unmistakable multicultural atmosphere in Fremantle, and
even the latest, if only temporary, migrants are wielding an influence as the port gears
for the greatest number of visitors ever seen. On the morning of the 27th of September 1983,
the fishermen must have realized they were in for some company in their cozy little harbor.
Well, there may have been an expectant smile or even a shudder, but few of them would have
counted on the magnitude or the type of transformation their harbor was about to undertake.
And while they wondered, the whole of Australia, from the Prime Minister down, launched a gigantic
celebration.
I tell you what, any boss who says anyone is a loser, he has to die in the boat.
Fears that the working class fabric of Fremantle would be lost in a surge of big dollars have
gone. The cup is with us, and the effects are evident.
Now there's a different atmosphere in the whole city everywhere. There's just a new
energy, a fresh energy, a vitality about it. And that, I think, is exciting.
The general run of things is, oh, the boat race, the boat race, that's all they're concerned
about.
Well, the big spending entrepreneurs are certainly present. I would contend that Fremantle has
always had some big spending entrepreneurs. What we're seeing, of course, is the possibility
that the big spending entrepreneurs could engulf some of the traditions of Fremantle,
both the physical traditions in terms of the buildings we see in Fremantle and the cultural
social traditions as well, by the ethos of the success ethic dominating all.
Whether it works out that way, I think, is a little too early to say.
Fremantle does have a sort of sponge-like ability to absorb new influences without being
totally transformed. And some of the large entrepreneurs have very strong historical
roots in Fremantle itself.
And so life goes on for the real people of Fremantle, the artists, the fishermen, the
wharfies, the collection of cultures that represents the port city today.
Just as the fishermen could not comprehend the changes that were to come when Australia
too ended the longest winning streak in the history of sport, it's hard to imagine how
Fremantle will be in mid-1987. By then, the yachting syndicates will have taken their
millions of dollars of equipment and technology back with them. If Australia is successful
in defending the cup, they'll be back soon again, you can bet your life. If not, Fremantle
will have at least earned itself a brief berth in world headlines and a prominent place in
yachting history books. It will most definitely be a different place for the experience. Just
how different is difficult to determine. But whatever the outcome, it's the youngsters
of today that will be shaping the Fremantle of tomorrow.